Mobile device business models

ABSTRACT

A mobile device facilitates customized services for its user. For example, a mobile device can record information about a user using multiple inputs (e.g., sensors, GPS, camera, etc.). The information recorded creates a log of activities and interests of the user. One or more parts of the log are published and the user receives additional information based on the published information, such as other nearby people with similar interests or coupons. Other services of the mobile device can include biometric (e.g., facial) recognition of people, voting/polling, and language translation. The services available on a mobile device can be pre-configured so that the user can use the various services out of the box.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This non-provisional application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e)of U.S. provisional Application No. 60/910,109, filed Apr. 4, 2007,which is hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject disclosure relates to electronic commerce, and moreparticularly, mobile electronic commerce.

BACKGROUND

Electronic commerce has revolutionized the way business is conducted.Usually, electronic commerce is conducted from a desktop or laptopcomputer connected to the Internet. Yet, mobile devices, such as cellphones, portable media players, personal digital assistants (PDAs),messaging devices, portable game players, are becoming ubiquitous.

The resources for using a mobile device, such as display size and keypadinput, are often too limited to handle the powerful electronic commercescenarios that are present and still evolving today with the Internet.For example, most mobile devices lack a full QWERTY keyboard with keysbig enough for touch typing.

Moreover, current electronic commerce scenarios fail to take intoaccount a user's current location or nearby users of other computers.For example, local retailers are often unable to target their marketingefforts to a specific local market. While search terms or IP address canbe used to identify a location, the location can be either toogeographically broad (e.g., a search for New York may refer to New YorkCity or the entire state) or too geographically narrow (e.g., a searchfor a particular neighborhood may not include other nearbyneighborhoods).

The above-described deficiencies of performing electronic commerce withmobile devices are merely intended to provide an overview of some of theproblems of conducting electronic commerce on today's mobile devices,and are not intended to be exhaustive. Other problems with the state ofthe art may become further apparent upon review of the description ofvarious non-limiting embodiments that follows.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basicunderstanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not anextensive overview of the invention. It is intended to neither identifykey or critical elements of the invention nor delineate the scope of theinvention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the inventionin a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description thatis presented later.

Advances in processing, storage and network capabilities of mobiledevices make mobile devices viable sensors, gatherers and publishers ofuser information in a way that automatically takes further action basedon a user's context. Demographic information and other user informationis collected in a log, called a dlog from one or more sensor inputs,such as a microphone, camera, or global positioning system (GPS)hardware. One or more parts of the dlog can be published to the publicwhile other parts are kept private or shared with specified users.

In at least one embodiment, since not everyone might wish to publish hisor her demographic information as part of a dlog or other publishingmechanism of the mobile device that reveals information about the user,the invention provides a way to incentive opting in to publish a user'spersonal information with an incentive based model. For instance, inexchange for allowing others, including marketers, to extractdemographic information from a mobile device, credit, payment, license,etc. may be granted to the user to help encourage the user's sharing ofinformation.

In other embodiments, the invention implements instant public opinionvoting from mobile devices. The invention provides a networked service,or a distributed service across mobile devices that share and aggregatedata by peer-to-peer techniques, that enables public opinion to begathered from user's mobile devices. In one embodiment, users opt-in tobe part of a public opinion poll by choosing to make their vote, orusers opt-in if they do not wish to make their opinion known. After allvotes for a given group are collected/counted, the results of theopinion poll may be published to the voters, or everyone, or optionally,where necessary to protect privacy or for other reasons, the results canbe maintained in confidence by the originator of the poll.

In accordance with one embodiments of the invention, an image based facerecognition query service is enabled for a mobile device, such as a cellphone. A camera can feed an image or images of a person's face, and aquery is automatically or explicitly formed that provides a service ofidentifying the person, and potentially related things about the person(news articles, web sites, family members, etc.), based on facialrecognition techniques applied by the service.

In accordance with another aspect, language translation is provided forthe mobile device. Input can be made in a first language, such asEnglish, via voice recognition or text-entry. The translation of theinput to a second language is facilitated by the mobile device, such asby performing the translation itself or sending the input to a remotecomputer to be translated. Then, the translated input can be presentedthe user using text-to-speech or displaying the translated text on thedisplay.

In accordance with yet another aspect, services available on a mobiledevice can be pre-installed to allow services to be used out-of-the-box.Other services that a user does not want may not be installed, thussaving memory and processing time for running unneeded services. In oneembodiment, the pre-installed services are installed and then the mobiledevice is shipped to the user while in another embodiment a memory imagecomprising the services selected by the user is generated and installedon the mobile device at a retail store.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certainillustrative aspects of the invention are described herein in connectionwith the following description and the annexed drawings. These aspectsare indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which theprinciples of the invention may be employed and the present invention isintended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Otheradvantages and novel features of the invention may become apparent fromthe following detailed description of the invention when considered inconjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary non-limiting block diagram illustratingaspects of creating a dlog according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates exemplary sensors used to receive information aboutthe user according to one aspect.

FIGS. 3A-3C illustrate exemplary items that one or more sensors can beembedded in or attached to according to one embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary mobile device according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates various components of a mobile device according toone embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of exemplary subcomponents of translationcomponent according to one aspect.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary user interface for selecting services to bepre-installed on the mobile device.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of utilizing a dlog according to one aspect.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of translation according to one embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of voting/polling according to one embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of using a facial recognition serviceaccording to one aspect.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of selecting services to be pre-installed on amobile device according to one embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary networked or distributedcomputing environment.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of an exemplary packet-based mobile cellularnetwork environment in which the invention may be practiced.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention is now described with reference to the drawings,wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elementsthroughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It may be evident, however, thatthe present invention may be practiced without these specific details.In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in blockdiagram form in order to facilitate describing the present invention.

As discussed in the background, today, the resources for using a mobiledevice, such as display size and keypad input, are too limited to handlethe powerful electronic commerce scenarios that are present and stillevolving today with the Internet. However, electronic commerce businessmodels will evolve in the mobile device space, making the mobile devicea powerful tool for a variety of business scenarios. Thus, in variousnon-limiting embodiments, a variety of end user and mobile devicescenarios are identified that are consistent with such evolution andadvances in technology.

Today, for instance, there are a variety of Internet hosted servicesthat allow users to publish a variety of information (text, photos,audio, links, video) about the user and receive information (comments,feedback, auto-email forms, etc.) from third parties in a way thatcaptures personal information about the user in the form of a Web blog(“blog”). However, due to the general limitations on the keypad anddisplay of current handsets, and limitations on network data speed,blogging is still an application that is too complex and time consumingto interact with a mobile device platform in the same way a user canfrom a PC. Thus, in one embodiment, the invention auto-populates amobile device log (“dlog”) associated with a mobile device, which may bemerged with or be independent to, a traditional blog. The dlog is userspecific, and encrypted on the mobile device for secure storage ofsensitive data. One can appreciate that if the mobile device is sharedamong different users, each user can have his or her own profile.

In one embodiment, the dlog is populated with sensory informationcommunicatively coupled to the phone, e.g., automatically as the sensorydata is received by the phone to publish to third parties informationabout the user at that time. In other embodiments, a distinction is madebetween personal and public dlog information. Public dlog information ismade available for any nearby devices (e.g., mobile devices) to observe,whereas private dlog information must be authorized prior to viewing.

The auto-population of a mobile device log 110 is illustrated in FIG. 1.The dlog 110 information is stored on the mobile device 100, althoughalternatively, the information can be uploaded to services in one ormore networks for further application, e.g., merging the informationwith a user blog, or otherwise publishing subsets of the information toadvertisers for credit, etc. As shown, various images 102, audio 104,sensory information 106, input 108 and any other information received bymobile device 100 can form the basis for auto-population of a dlog 110.In one embodiment, dlog 110 includes different dlog pages or views D1 toDN depending on the desired view over the data included in dlog 110.

FIG. 2 illustrates a variety of sensor inputs I1, I2, I3, I4, I5, I6,I7, etc., including but not limited to sensor input on body parts of theuser 200, making input to device 210. Device 210 logs the input from thesensor inputs I1 to I7 to the dlog. In one embodiment, the sensorsinclude a global positioning system component, which can be used on themobile device to track the location of the user, a camera to visuallyrecord what the user is experiencing, and a microphone to record audio.The device 210 can be a wearable computer or a more traditional handheldmobile device that is carrier in a purse, pocket, or beltholder/holster.

Any one or more of the functions of the mobile device, and any input tothe mobile device, can form the basis for auto-populating the dlog. Forinstance, the camera, the microphone, sensory input, actions taken, etc.can all form part of information that is dlogged to the mobile device.Accordingly, as the user of the mobile device travels around, the dlogis being auto-populated with events, context, occurrences, etc. from theuser's life, which information is then made available to authorizedviewers in dlog format. Instant communities can be formed, e.g., when avariety of coffee drinkers in a restaurant all discover they all havethe same tastes in movies, or random strangers can fall in love based ona particularly common set of public interests shared from dlogs madepublicly available by two users, i.e., mobile device to mobile device.

Sensor inputs that sense body position or other user context informationcan be advantageously placed in or attached to jewelry, such as a rings,watches or necklaces, fashion accessories, such as belts, headbands, orhats, or garments, such as shoes. FIGS. 3A-3C illustrate block diagramsof various sensors embedded in various jewelry and fashion accessories.In particular, FIG. 3A illustrates a sensor input I4 placed into a ring300. FIG. 3B illustrates a sensor input I2 embedded in a watch 320. FIG.3C illustrates sensor input I6 embedded in a belt buckle of a belt 340.These sensors can be embedded upon manufacture of the jewelry or fashionaccessories or can be attached subsequently, such as by the user or aretailer (e.g., jewelry retailer, clothing retailer, or mobile deviceretailer).

One can also appreciate that one or more sensor inputs can be embeddedor attached to traditional input/output devices for mobile devices thatare worn by the user. For example, one or more sensor inputs can beembedded into a Bluetooth or other wired/wireless headset orwireless/wired headphones.

Turning to FIG. 4, an exemplary non-limiting mobile computing systemenvironment in which the present invention may be implemented isillustrated. Even though a general-purpose mobile computing device isillustrated, one can appreciate that any mobile computing device,including mobile computing devices implemented using multiple processorsor a System on a chip or wearable mobile devices are contemplated.Although not required, the invention can partly be implemented viasoftware (e.g., firmware). Software may be described in the generalcontext of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules,being executed by one or more computers.

FIG. 4 thus illustrates an example of a mobile computing device. Thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practicedwith any suitable computing system environment 400 in which theinvention may be implemented but the computing system environment 400 isonly one example of a suitable computing environment and is not intendedto suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of theinvention. Neither should the computing environment 400 be interpretedas having any dependency or requirement relating to any one orcombination of components illustrated in the exemplary operatingenvironment 400.

With reference to FIG. 4, an example of a computing device forimplementing the invention includes a general-purpose mobile computingdevice in the form of a computer 410. Components of computer 410 mayinclude, but are not limited to, a processing unit 420, a system memory430, and a system bus 421 that couples various system componentsincluding the system memory to the processing unit 420. The system bus421 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory busor memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of avariety of bus architectures.

Computer 410 typically includes a variety of computer readable media.Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessedby computer 410. By way of example, and not limitation, computerreadable media may comprise computer storage media and communicationmedia. Computer storage media includes volatile and nonvolatile as wellas removable and non-removable media implemented in any method ortechnology for storage of information such as computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computerstorage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flashmemory or other memory technology, CDROM, digital versatile disks (DVD)or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape,magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any othermedium which can be used to store the desired information and which canbe accessed by computer 410. Communication media typically embodiescomputer readable instructions, data structures, program modules orother data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or othertransport mechanism and includes any information delivery media.

The system memory 430 may include computer storage media in the form ofvolatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) and/orrandom access memory (RAM). A basic input/output system (BIOS),containing the basic routines that help to transfer information betweenelements within computer 410, such as during start-up, may be stored inmemory 430. Memory 430 typically also contains data and/or programmodules that are immediately accessible to and/or presently beingoperated on by processing unit 420. By way of example, and notlimitation, memory 430 may also include an operating system, applicationprograms, other program modules, and program data.

The computer 410 may also include other removable/non-removable,volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. For example, computer 410could include a flash memory that reads from or writes to non-removable,nonvolatile media, a magnetic disk drive that reads from or writes to aremovable, nonvolatile magnetic disk, and/or an optical disk drive thatreads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile optical disk, such as aCD-ROM or other optical media. Other removable/non-removable,volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media that can be used in theexemplary operating environment include, but are not limited to,magnetic tape cassettes, digital versatile disks, digital video tape,solid state RAM, solid state ROM and the like.

A user may enter commands and information into the computer 410 throughinput devices. Input devices are often connected to the processing unit420 through user input 440 and associated interface(s) that are coupledto the system bus 414, but may be connected by other interface and busstructures, in a wired or wireless manner, such as a parallel port, gameport, a universal serial bus (USB), wireless USB, or Bluetooth. Agraphics subsystem may also be connected to the system bus 421. One orremote sensors, including orientation sensors 445 are also connected tosystem bus 421 via input interface 440. At least one of the sensors isattached or proximate to the user's body and each sensor iscommunicatively coupled to computer via wired or wireless means. Amonitor or other type of remote output devices may also connected to thesystem bus 421 via an interface, such as output interface 450, which mayin turn communicate with video memory. In addition to a monitor,computer 410 may also include other peripheral output devices, which maybe connected through output interface 450.

The computer 410 may operate in a networked or distributed environmentusing logical connections to one or more other remote computers, such asremote computer 470, which may in turn have capabilities different fromdevice 440. The logical connections depicted in FIG. 4 include a network471. The network 471 can include both the wireless network describedherein as well as other networks, such a personal area network (PAN), alocal area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN).

When used in a PAN networking environment, the computer 440 is connectedto the PAN through a network interface or adapter, such as a Bluetoothor Wireless USB adapter. When used in a LAN networking environment, thecomputer 440 is connected to the LAN through a network interface oradapter. When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 440typically includes a communications component, such as a modem, or othermeans for establishing communications over the WAN, such as theInternet. A communications component, such as a network interface card,which may be internal or external, wired or wireless, may be connectedto the system bus 421 via the user input interface of input 440, orother appropriate mechanism. In a networked environment, programmodules, or portions thereof, may be stored in a remote memory storagedevice.

FIG. 5 illustrates various exemplary components of a mobile device 500.For the sake of clarity, hardware components commonly associated with amobile device are not shown. The mobile device includes a sensory inputcomponent 504 that receives information about a user's context from thesensor inputs and creates a user profile including demographicinformation, as part of the dlog. Publishing component 508 publishes thedlog in accordance with any privacy instructions maintained by privacycomponent 502, which restricts the parts of the dlog that are madepublic and which users, if any, can receive private parts of the dlog.For example, parents may set the privacy component for their child andallow only limited dlog information to be publicly shared but allowcomplete access to themselves.

Since not everyone might wish to publish his or her demographicinformation as part of a dlog or other publishing mechanism of themobile device that reveals information about the user, an incentivizingcomponent 506 provides a way to incentive opting in to publish a user'spersonal information with an incentive based model. For instance, inexchange for allowing others, including marketers, to extractdemographic information from a mobile device, credit, payment, license,etc. may be granted to the user to help encourage the user's sharing ofinformation. For instance, in exchange for letting Starbucks know thatyou are a coffee drinker, making you a prime customer for their productsand advertisements, Starbucks can credit the user of the mobile devicewhen the user buys coffee products based on the advertising to which theuser of the mobile device assented to receive. An advertising code couldserve as proof of receipt of the advertising that motivated thepurchase.

Other services can be available by additional components on the mobiledevice. Accordingly, the illustrated mobile device also implementsinstant public opinion voting from mobile devices via the votingcomponent 510. The voting component 510 facilitates a networked service,or a distributed service across mobile devices that share and aggregatedata by peer-to-peer techniques, that enables public opinion to begathered from user's mobile devices. In one embodiment, users opt-in tobe part of a public opinion poll by choosing to make their vote, orusers opt-in if they do not wish to make their opinion known.

Localized opinion gathering may also be implemented where a smallergroup of mobile device users are generally co-located. As such, thelocalized users form a collection of mobile devices that will vote on anissue presented by one mobile device of the collection. In this way, anopinion can be expressed by any number of people by defining ageographical location. Another way to form a group of people for votingpurposes is to define a mobile device voting entry code so that eachmobile device wishing to participate in the vote enters the entry code.After all votes for a given group are collected/counted, the results ofthe opinion poll may be published to the voters, or everyone, oroptionally, where necessary to protect privacy or for other reasons, theresults can be maintained in confidence by the originator of the poll.

In addition, there are also a variety of social and business scenarioswhere for some reason, a user of a mobile device may wish to know moreabout another person in the setting. Accordingly, a facial recognitioncomponent 512 is provided that enables an image based face recognitionquery service for a mobile device, such as a cell phone, wherein acamera of the mobile device feeds an image or images of a person's faceto a remote computer, and a query is automatically or explicitly formedthat provides a service of identifying the person, and potentiallyrelated things about the person (news articles, family members, websites, etc.), based on facial recognition techniques applied by theservice. One can appreciate that other forms of biometric recognition,such as voice recognition or fingerprint identification are alsocontemplated. Other services can also distribute some or all of theprocessing to a remote computer.

The illustrated mobile device also comprises a translation componentthat translates input between different languages. FIG. 6 illustratesthe translation component 514 in greater detail. A mobile device isprovided with an auto translate function wherein a first user speaksinto the mobile device. The input voice is converted using speech totext via the voice input component 602. The text is then translated toanother language using the translation component 604. One can appreciatethat in other embodiments, the translation can occur on a remotecomputer (not shown) via a translation web service. The translatedresult is presented by the translation presentation component 606. Forexample, audio of the translated text can be spoken using on a text tospeech algorithm. Thus, speech in one language from a first user istranslated to speech in another language to another user. This can beperformed for multiple language pairs and each component can have one ormore language-specific libraries, such as the libraries (612, 614) ofthe voice input component.

The components can also be used to translate in the opposite directionso that a conversation can be facilitated by use of the translationservice. One can appreciate that although the word language is used,translation can also be performed across dialects, such as AmericanEnglish and United Kingdom English.

Alternatively, the translation presentation component can display thetranslated text. This latter scenario would be helpful to speak to taxior bus drivers of other countries when a traveler does not speak theirlanguage. The traveler could still communicate the name of a hotel, andstreet address which can be translated for the other language speaker intext for viewing. In such a case, input is performed via the text inputcomponent 608.

An automatic language selection component 610 can automatically detectthe language pair to utilize in the translation. For example, the inputlanguage could be assumed to be the user's native language and thelanguage to translate into could be determined based on the user'scurrent location. Thus, if an American were traveling in Mexico, theinput language can be automatically set to English and the outputlanguage set to Mexican Spanish.

One can appreciate that the service illustrated on the mobile device areexemplary. Other services can also be used on the mobile device. It iswidely anticipated that services will become complex, numerous andlargely irrelevant to most users. Today, a user must somehow find outwhat services are offered by their mobile device, and then negotiatethose services one by one, which is a tedious, ad hoc and time consumingprocess as the user learns about new services. Accordingly, a mobiledevice purchasing model is contemplated that allows an out of boxservices experience for the mobile device, such that the user designatesfrom a list of categories and services offered for the mobile devicewhich services the user would like to have, and as a result, the mobiledevice is shipped pre-equipped with the desired subset of services. As aresult, the user interface and set off functionality and servicesassociated with the mobile device are pre-tailored to a user'spreferences, maximizing the user experience from the moment the mobiledevice is powered.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary user 700 for selecting the desiredsubset of services according to one aspect. The user interface 700 canbe displayed to a user via the web or via a store kiosk. The illustratedinterface 700 includes checkboxes 710 for selecting the desiredservices, but one can appreciate other user-selectable controls can beused. After clicking on the continue button 720, a mobile device is madewith the selected services pre-installed. One or more services maydepend upon other services and those dependent services can beautomatically selected when a dependent service is selected. Althoughnot shown, configuration information can also be requested so that aservice is pre-configured for a particular user.

Turning briefly to FIGS. 8-12, methodologies that may be implemented inaccordance with the present invention are illustrated. While, forpurposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are shown anddescribed as a series of blocks, it is to be understood and appreciatedthat the present invention is not limited by the order of the blocks, assome blocks may, in accordance with the present invention, occur indifferent orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from that shownand described herein. Moreover, not all illustrated blocks may berequired to implement the methodologies in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary non-limiting flow diagram showing a method 800for use in connection with a mobile device in accordance with theinvention. At 810, sensor information about a user, such as the user'suse of the mobile device, is received from a plurality of sensor inputs.At 820, a device log is automatically populated based on the output ofthe plurality of sensor input. At 830, one or more parts of the devicelog are automatically published to other mobile device users. At 840, aresponse is received based on the published one or more parts of thedevice log. For example, a coupon can be presented associated with atleast one interest of the user or a list of nearby users with similarinterests.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary flow diagram of a method 900 of translationaccording to one embodiment. At 910, voice input is received in a firstlanguage. At 920, the voice input is translated into a second language,such as by calling a translation web service. At 930, the translatedinput is presented to the user, such as by speaking the translated inputusing text-to-speech or presenting the translation on a display.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary flow diagram of a method 1000 of votingaccording to one embodiment. At 1010, an indication of a poll isreceived from a user of the mobile device and transmitted to nearbymobile devices, such as via a peer-to-peer network that avoid carriercharges. At 1020, votes are received from a group of users associatedwith the nearby mobile devices. At 1030, the results of the poll aredisplayed. As stated supra, the results can be displayed to the voters,the poll originator, or everyone depending on options set by the polloriginator.

FIG. 11 is an exemplary flow diagram of a method 1100 of facialrecognition according to one embodiment. At 1110, a picture is taken ofa person. At 1120, face recognition is used to determine the identity ofthe person. For example, the picture could be transmitted to a remotecomputer that has the person in its facial recognition database, such asthe database of employees of an organization. At 1130. information aboutthe recognized user is retrieved. For example, the remote computer couldsearch the Internet or public records for information about therecognized person, such as papers published, names of family members,job title, etc.

FIG. 12 is an exemplary flow diagram of a method 1200 of selectingservices to be pre-installed according to one embodiment. At 1210, alist of one or more services that add functionality to a mobile deviceis displayed. At 1220, a selection of one or more displayed services isselected. At 1230, the mobile device is made with the selected servicespre-installed. For example, a store kiosk can generate a memory imagewith the selected services and flash a mobile device to pre-install thatmemory image. Alternatively, the mobile device can be shipped out to auser with the selected services pre-installed.

Exemplary Computer Networks and Environments

One of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that the variousembodiments described herein can be implemented in connection with anycomputer or other client or server device, which can be deployed as partof a computer network or in a distributed computing environment, and canbe connected to any kind of data store. In this regard, the variousembodiments described herein can be implemented in any computer systemor environment having any number of memory or storage units, and anynumber of applications and processes occurring across any number ofstorage units. This includes, but is not limited to, an environment withserver computers and client computers deployed in a network environmentor a distributed computing environment, having remote or local storage.

Distributed computing provides sharing of computer resources andservices by communicative exchange among computing devices and systems.These resources and services include the exchange of information, cachestorage and disk storage for objects, such as files. These resources andservices also include the sharing of processing power across multipleprocessing units for load balancing, expansion of resources,specialization of processing, and the like. Distributed computing takesadvantage of network connectivity, allowing clients to leverage theircollective power to benefit the entire enterprise. In this regard, avariety of devices may have applications, objects or resources that mayinclude or implement one or more of the various embodiments of thesubject disclosure.

FIG. 13 provides a schematic diagram of an exemplary networked ordistributed computing environment. The distributed computing environmentcomprises computing objects 1310, 1312, etc. and computing objects ordevices 1320, 1322, 1324, 1326, 1328, etc., which may include programs,methods, data stores, programmable logic, etc., as represented byapplications 1330, 1332, 1334, 1336, 1338. It can be appreciated thatobjects 1310, 1312, etc. and computing objects or devices 1320, 1322,1324, 1326, 1328, etc. may comprise different devices, such as PDAs,audio/video devices, mobile phones, MP3 players, personal computers,laptops, etc.

Each object 1310, 1312, etc. and computing objects or devices 1320,1322, 1324, 1326, 1328, etc. can communicate with one or more otherobjects 1310, 1312, etc. and computing objects or devices 1320, 1322,1324, 1326, 1328, etc. by way of the communications network 1340, eitherdirectly or indirectly. Even though illustrated as a single element inFIG. 13, network 1340 may comprise other computing objects and computingdevices that provide services to the system of FIG. 13, and/or mayrepresent multiple interconnected networks, which are not shown. Eachobject 1310, 1312, etc. or 1320, 1322, 1324, 1326, 1328, etc. can alsocontain an application, such as applications 1330, 1332, 1334, 1336,1338, that might make use of an API, or other object, software, firmwareand/or hardware, suitable for communication with or implementation ofthe various embodiments of the subject disclosure.

There are a variety of systems, components, and network configurationsthat support distributed computing environments. For example, computingsystems can be connected together by wired or wireless systems, by localnetworks or widely distributed networks. Currently, many networks arecoupled to the Internet, which provides an infrastructure for widelydistributed computing and encompasses many different networks, thoughany network infrastructure can be used for exemplary communications madeincident to the various embodiments described herein.

Thus, a host of network topologies and network infrastructures, such asclient/server, peer-to-peer, or hybrid architectures, can be utilized.The “client” is a member of a class or group that uses the services ofanother class or group to which it is not related. A client can be aprocess, i.e., roughly a set of instructions or tasks, that requests aservice provided by another program or process. The client processutilizes the requested service without having to “know” any workingdetails about the other program or the service itself.

In a client/server architecture, particularly a networked system, aclient is usually a computer that accesses shared network resourcesprovided by another computer, e.g., a server. In the illustration ofFIG. 13, as a non-limiting example, computers 1320, 1322, 1324, 1326,1328, etc. can be thought of as clients and computers 1310, 1312, etc.can be thought of as servers where servers 1310, 1312, etc. provide dataservices, such as receiving data from client computers 1320, 1322, 1324,1326, 1328, etc., storing of data, processing of data, transmitting datato client computers 1320, 1322, 1324, 1326, 1328, etc., although anycomputer can be considered a client, a server, or both, depending on thecircumstances. Any of these computing devices may be processing data, orrequesting services or tasks that may implicate one or more embodimentsdescribed herein.

A server is typically a remote computer system accessible over a remoteor local network, such as the Internet or wireless networkinfrastructures. The client process may be active in a first computersystem, and the server process may be active in a second computersystem, communicating with one another over a communications medium,thus providing distributed functionality and allowing multiple clientsto take advantage of the information-gathering capabilities of theserver. Any software objects utilized pursuant to the techniquesdescribed herein can be provided standalone, or distributed acrossmultiple computing devices or objects.

In a network environment in which the communications network/bus 1340 isthe Internet, for example, the servers 1310, 1312, etc. can be Webservers with which the clients 1320, 1322, 1324, 1326, 1328, etc.communicate via any of a number of known protocols, such as thehypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). Servers 1310, 1312, etc. may alsoserve as clients 1320, 1322, 1324, 1326, 1328, etc., as may becharacteristic of a distributed computing environment.

Exemplary Communications Networks and Environments

The above-described optimizations may be applied to any network,however, the following description sets forth some exemplary telephonyradio networks and non-limiting operating environments for incorporationof the present invention. The below-described operating environmentsshould be considered non-exhaustive, however, and thus thebelow-described network architecture merely shows one networkarchitecture into which the present invention may be incorporated. Onecan appreciate, however, that the invention may be incorporated into anynow existing or future alternative architectures for communicationnetworks as well.

The global system for mobile communication (“GSM”) is one of the mostwidely utilized wireless access systems in today's fast growingcommunication systems. GSM provides circuit-switched data services tosubscribers, such as mobile telephone or computer users. General PacketRadio Service (“GPRS”), which is an extension to GSM technology,introduces packet switching to GSM networks. GPRS uses a packet-basedwireless communication technology to transfer high and low speed dataand signaling in an efficient manner. GPRS optimizes the use of networkand radio resources, thus enabling the cost effective and efficient useof GSM network resources for packet mode applications.

As one of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate, the exemplaryGSM/GPRS environment and services described herein can also be extendedto 3G services, such as Universal Mobile Telephone System (“UMTS”),Frequency Division Duplexing (“FDD”) and Time Division Duplexing(“TDD”), High Speed Packet Data Access (“HSPDA”), cdma2000 1x EvolutionData Optimized (“EVDO”), Code Division Multiple Access-2000 (“cdma20003x”), Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access(“TD-SCDMA”), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (“WCDMA”), EnhancedData GSM Environment (“EDGE”), International MobileTelecommunications-2000 (“IMT-2000”), Digital Enhanced CordlessTelecommunications (“DECT”), etc., as well as to other network servicesthat shall become available in time. In this regard, the techniques ofthe invention may be applied independently of the method of datatransport, and need not depend on any particular network architecture,or underlying protocols, except where specified otherwise.

FIG. 14 depicts an overall block diagram of an exemplary packet-basedmobile cellular network environment, such as a GPRS network, in whichthe invention may be practiced. In such an environment, there are aplurality of Base Station Subsystems (“BSS”) 1400 (only one is shown),each of which comprises a Base Station Controller (“BSC”) 1402 serving aplurality of Base Transceiver Stations (“BTS”) such as BTSs 1404, 1406,and 1408. BTSs 1404, 1406, 1408, etc. are the access points where usersof packet-based mobile devices become connected to the wireless network.In exemplary fashion, the packet traffic originating from user devicesis transported over the air interface to a BTS 1408, and from the BTS1408 to the BSC 1402. Base station subsystems, such as BSS 1400, are apart of internal frame relay network 1410 that may include Service GPRSSupport Nodes (“SGSN”) such as SGSN 1412 and 1414.

Each SGSN is in turn connected to an internal packet network 1420through which a SGSN 1412, 1414, etc. can route data packets to and froma plurality of gateway GPRS support nodes (GGSN) 1422, 1424, 1426, etc.As illustrated, SGSN 1414 and GGSNs 1422, 1424, and 1426 are part ofinternal packet network 1420. Gateway GPRS serving nodes 1422, 1424 and1426 mainly provide an interface to external Internet Protocol (“IP”)networks such as Public Land Mobile Network (“PLMN”) 1445, corporateintranets 1440, or Fixed-End System (“FES”) or the public Internet 1430.As illustrated, subscriber corporate network 1440 may be connected toGGSN 1424 via firewall 1432; and PLMN 1445 is connected to GGSN 1424 viaboarder gateway router 1434. The Remote Authentication Dial-In UserService (“RADIUS”) server 1442 may be used for caller authenticationwhen a user of a mobile cellular device calls corporate network 1440.

Generally, there can be four different cell sizes in a GSMnetwork—macro, micro, pico and umbrella cells. The coverage area of eachcell is different in different environments. Macro cells can be regardedas cells where the base station antenna is installed in a mast or abuilding above average roof top level. Micro cells are cells whoseantenna height is under average roof top level; they are typically usedin urban areas. Pico cells are small cells having a diameter is a fewdozen meters; they are mainly used indoors. On the other hand, umbrellacells are used to cover shadowed regions of smaller cells and fill ingaps in coverage between those cells.

Thus, network elements that may implicate the functionality of theoptimization algorithms and processes in accordance with the inventionmay include but are not limited to Gateway GPRS Support Node tables,Fixed End System router tables, firewall systems, VPN tunnels, and anynumber of other network elements as required by the particular digitalnetwork.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as an example,instance, or illustration. For the avoidance of doubt, the subjectmatter disclosed herein is not limited by such examples. In addition,any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarilyto be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects ordesigns, nor is it meant to preclude equivalent exemplary structures andtechniques known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, tothe extent that the terms “includes,” “has,” “contains,” and othersimilar words are used in either the detailed description or the claims,for the avoidance of doubt, such terms are intended to be inclusive in amanner similar to the term “comprising” as an open transition wordwithout precluding any additional or other elements.

Various implementations of the invention described herein may haveaspects that are wholly in hardware, partly in hardware and partly insoftware, as well as in software. As used herein, the terms “component,”“system” and the like are likewise intended to refer to acomputer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware andsoftware, software, or software in execution. For example, a componentmay be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, aprocessor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program,and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application runningon computer and the computer can be a component. One or more componentsmay reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a componentmay be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or morecomputers.

Thus, the methods and apparatus of the present invention, or certainaspects or portions thereof, may take the form of program code (i.e.,instructions) embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes,CD-ROMs, hard drives, or any other machine-readable storage medium,wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine,such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing theinvention. In the case of program code execution on programmablecomputers, the computing device generally includes a processor, astorage medium readable by the processor (including volatile andnon-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device,and at least one output device.

Furthermore, the disclosed subject matter may be implemented as asystem, method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standardprogramming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware,hardware, or any combination thereof to control a computer or processorbased device to implement aspects detailed herein. The terms “article ofmanufacture”, “computer program product” or similar terms, where usedherein, are intended to encompass a computer program accessible from anycomputer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computerreadable media can include but are not limited to magnetic storagedevices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips . . . ), opticaldisks (e.g., compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD) . . . ),smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick). Additionally,it is known that a carrier wave can be employed to carrycomputer-readable electronic data such as those used in transmitting andreceiving electronic mail or in accessing a network such as the Internetor a local area network (LAN).

The aforementioned systems have been described with respect tointeraction between several components. It can be appreciated that suchsystems and components can include those components or specifiedsub-components, some of the specified components or sub-components,and/or additional components, and according to various permutations andcombinations of the foregoing. Sub-components can also be implemented ascomponents communicatively coupled to other components rather thanincluded within parent components, e.g., according to a hierarchicalarrangement. Additionally, it should be noted that one or morecomponents may be combined into a single component providing aggregatefunctionality or divided into several separate sub-components, and anyone or more middle layers, such as a management layer, may be providedto communicatively couple to such sub-components in order to provideintegrated functionality. Any components described herein may alsointeract with one or more other components not specifically describedherein but generally known by those of skill in the art.

In view of the exemplary systems described supra, methodologies that maybe implemented in accordance with the disclosed subject matter will bebetter appreciated with reference to the various flowcharts representedby the Figures. While for purposes of simplicity of explanation, themethodologies are shown and described as a series of blocks, it is to beunderstood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is notlimited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur indifferent orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from what isdepicted and described herein. Where non-sequential, or branched, flowis illustrated via flowchart, it can be appreciated that various otherbranches, flow paths, and orders of the blocks, may be implemented whichachieve the same or a similar result. Moreover, not all illustratedblocks may be required to implement the methodologies describedhereinafter.

Furthermore, as will be appreciated various portions of the disclosedsystems above and methods below may include or consist of artificialintelligence or knowledge or rule based components, sub-components,processes, means, methodologies, or mechanisms (e.g., support vectormachines, neural networks, expert systems, Bayesian belief networks,fuzzy logic, data fusion engines, classifiers . . . ). Such components,inter alia, can automate certain mechanisms or processes performedthereby to make portions of the systems and methods more adaptive aswell as efficient and intelligent.

While the present invention has been described in connection with thepreferred embodiments of the various figures, it is to be understoodthat other similar embodiments may be used or modifications andadditions may be made to the described embodiment for performing thesame function of the present invention without deviating therefrom.

1. A method for use in connection with a mobile device, comprising:receiving sensor information about a user from a plurality of sensorinputs; automatically populating a device log based on the output of theplurality of sensor input; automatically publishing one or more parts ofthe device log to other mobile device users; and receiving a responsebased on the published one or more parts.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the receiving of sensor information about a user from aplurality of sensor inputs comprises receiving sensor information abouta user's interaction with the mobile device.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the receiving includes receiving sensor information from atleast one of a camera, a global positioning satellite (GPS) component,or a microphone.
 4. The method of claim 1, further including:identifying at least one face of at least one user of the mobile deviceincluding analyzing image information of the at least one user of thedevice received by the mobile device, wherein the receiving includesreceiving the image information.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein thereceiving includes receiving sensor information from at least one sensorinput embedded in at least one of a piece of jewelry, a fashionaccessory, or a garment.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the receivingof a response based on the published one or more parts comprisesreceiving an indication of other nearby mobile device users who have asimilarity to the user.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the receivingof a response based on the published one or more parts comprisesreceiving a coupon from a merchant associated with at least one interestof the user.
 8. A general-purpose mobile device comprising: a means forreceiving voice input in a first language; a means for translating thevoice input in the first language to a second language; and a means forpresenting the translated input in the second language.
 9. The mobiledevice of claim 8, wherein the means for presenting the translated inputcomprises means for outputting audio in the second language based on thetranslated input.
 10. The mobile device of claim 8, further comprising:a means for receiving voice input in the second language; a means fortranslating the voice input in the second language to the firstlanguage; and a means for presenting to the user the translated input inthe first language.
 11. The mobile device of claim 8, furthercomprising: a means for translating the voice input in the firstlanguage to one or more other languages different from the first andsecond language; and a means for presenting to the user the translatedinput in at least one of the one or more other languages.
 12. The mobiledevice of claim 11, further comprising means for automatically selectinga language to translate the voice input into the at least one of the oneor more other languages based on a location of the mobile device. 13.The mobile device of claim 8, further comprising: a means for receivingtext input in the first language; and a means for translating the textinput in the first language to the second language.
 14. A method ofpre-configuring services available via a mobile device, the methodcomprising: displaying a list of one or more services that addfunctionality to the mobile device; receiving at least one selection ofone or more services from the list from a user; and making a mobiledevice with the selected services pre-installed.
 15. The method of claim14, wherein the making of the mobile device with the selected servicespre-installed comprises: generating a customized memory image at aretail store for the mobile device; and flashing the mobile device withthe generated memory image.
 16. The method of claim 14, furthercomprising shipping the mobile device made according to the making withthe selected services pre-installed to the user.
 17. The method of claim14, wherein the receiving of the at least one selection of one or moreservices from the list comprises receiving a selection of a service thatdistributes functionality between the mobile device and at least oneremote computer.
 18. The method of claim 14, wherein the displaying ofthe list of one or more services that add functionality to the mobiledevice comprises displaying the list of one of more services on a kioskor other computing device at a retail store for interfacing with theuser.
 19. The method of claim 14, wherein the displaying of the list ofone or more services that add functionality to the mobile devicecomprises displaying the list of one of more services on a web pagepresented to the user.
 20. The method of claim 14, further comprisingreceiving configuration information for at least one of the selectedservices; and providing to the user a mobile device with the at leastone selected service pre-configured with the configuration information.